Amazon Prime Now launches, costs $7.99 for one-hour delivery

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Those of us who can’t sit around and wait for next day delivery from Amazon are finally getting courier-style service from whichever Amazon warehouse is closest. As suspected in our previous coverage, the service is being called Amazon Prime Now, and while the initial rollout is limited to Manhattan, you can bet that there are plans for rapid expansion in areas where timely delivery can be guaranteed. The best part is the price, as Amazon has managed to make one hour Prime Now delivery only $8.

As any Amazon Prime addict will tell you, next day delivery is one of those things that has radically changed shopping. That is, unless you need something today. The service has been silently but aggressively expanding, such that you’d be hard pressed to find a product listed on Amazon that doesn’t have the Prime label just below the price tag.

Prime Now will exist as a separate option in a separate app for now, offering search results that only qualify for rapid delivery. Once you pay for the item and the $7.99 delivery fee, which is the same price Amazon charges for Sunday delivery in applicable locations, you can have the item delivered within the hour.

Of course, if you aren’t a fan of paying $8 to have something delivered that costs less than $8, Amazon will drop the fee if you pick a two hour window later in the day to have your item delivered. As long as you’re within the delivery area, which again is only Manhattan in NYC right now, this is a fantastic way to avoid making a trip out for something trivial.

Now for the hard part, which for everyone outside of Manhattan is waiting and hoping that something like this is available where you live anytime soon. There’s a good chance that the answer to the question has a lot to do with whether or not Amazon’s drone delivery service is allowed to take off.